ˈratherest, adv. (and a.)
[f. rather adv. + -est.]
† 1. Soonest. Obs. rare—1.
| a 1425 Cursor M. 22129 (Trin.) Turne..þei shul raþerest and siþen oþere at þe leest. |
2. Most of all, most particularly. Obs. exc. dial.
| c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 1014 Þe best we shull ratherest byleve to. 1535 Fisher Spir. Consolat. Wks. (1876) 352 It shall anon lose the vertue & quicknesse in stirring & moving of your soule, when you woulde ratherest have it sturred. 1567 W. Barker Xenophon, Schole Cyrus i. E iv b, When you haue most plentie, then ratherest prouide against wante. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 19 His..vntrained, or rather vnlettered, or ratherest vnconfirmed fashion. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 66 Gin thou'lt no fancy her, And ratherest wad ha'e Meg. |
3. rather of the ratherest, just a little too much or too little.
Grose assigns the phr. to Norfolk and explains it as ‘meat underdone’, and Forby says ‘it is chiefly applied to the insufficient dressing of meat’. This appears to associate the origin of the expression with rathe a.3
| [1787 in Grose Prov. Gloss.] a 1825 in Forby. 1865 Mrs. H. Wood Mildred Arkell ii. iv. 68 The women would find it rather of the ratherest for heat. |